Circle of Friends
by RPitU
Summary: After the Winter Cup, the Generation of Miracles and Kagami crash the bar for a gathering, and a drunk Kise reveals his thoughts on the Generation of Miracles' separation.


I'm bored even though I have work to do. And this came up.

 **Once again, this is after the Winter Cup, so Akashi is normal.**

Disclaimer: I don't own Kuroko no Basuke

Synopsis: After the Winter Cup, the Generation of Miracles and Kagami crash the bar for a gathering, and a drunk Kise reveals his thoughts on the Generation of Miracles' separation.

GoM fluff? Angst? I don't know.

* * *

"Kise! I challenge you to a drinking contest!"

"Get ready to lose, Aomine-cchi!"

"The only one who can beat me is me! I'll never lose to the likes of you!"

Midorima, hearing the conversation, sniffed in distaste.

"Underage drinking should not be permitted."

Six pairs of eyes peered silently at Midorima.

"Come on, Midorima-cchi! You're no fun!"

"Eh~ Mido-chin~ It's just a gathering~ Why do you have to be... so... What was that word again?"

"Uptight?" Kuroko offered.

Murasakibara nodded.

"It's true, Midorima. Even though I personally am not one for underage drinking, I believe that we can't make this an exception. Besides, this is a private bar owned by someone I know personally, so we won't get caught."

"Not you too, Akashi!"

Midorima and Akashi then engaged themselves in a heated argument.

Meanwhile, Kagami was just staring at the six colorful rainbow heads awkwardly. He felt out of place.

"Aomine-cchi, quickly, while Midorima-cchi is distracted!"

By the time Akashi emerged as the winner of the argument, Kise and Aomine were on their second and third glasses respectively.

* * *

Midorima looked irritably among the attendance of the gathering, and settled next to Akashi, the two of them soon getting engrossed in a talk of red bean soup and tofu. Murasakibara continued eating from his endless supply of maiubo, while Kuroko was sipping from his glass of vanilla milkshake while listening to Kagami talk about basketball.

* * *

 **Clang!**

All eyes turned to the source of the sound, which was, expectedly, Kise.

Aomine smirked and said, "Already wasted, Kise? You're only on your twenty-third cup! The only one who can beat me, is still me alone, after all!"

Kuroko blinked and turned his attention back to his vanilla milkshake. Just when Midorima was about to resume his speech on why red bean soup was better than tofu soup -

"It's sad, isn't it?"

The six pairs of eyes in the room were yet again directed to Kise.

"We were all so close at the start of the second year in Teiko."

Aomine looked ready to interrupt Kise at that moment, but Akashi held up a hand and said, "Wait. Let him continue."

"We won our first championship, and that really made me happy, but what I felt was even better was that we were friends! And then Aomine-cchi started feeling insecure, started skipping practice and he drifted away from us all. At least I could still talk to Kuroko-cchi, Akashi-cchi and Midorima-cchi. Murasakibara-cchi was never an option, since the only one he listened to was Akashi-cchi and he kept ignoring me for his snacks. Even though he was mean to me, I still didn't mind! We were still friends!"

Murasakibara, after hearing his name, started listening for real.

"But after that, Murasakibara-cchi changed too. And he opposed Akashi-cchi."

"Why does Kise seem like he's talking to some outside party?" Aomine scratched his head.

"Akashi-cchi changed the most. He was so kind to me, and didn't bully me, but when he switched personalities, I really felt scared."

Akashi looked down.

"Midorima-cchi and I didn't change much. We still came to practice as usual, and didn't complain, but everything felt different. Even Kuroko-cchi didn't seem normal. He looked very worried, and I tried my best to cheer him up, but I couldn't."

Kuroko stopped drinking his vanilla milkshake and looked at Kise in the eye.

"In our third year, we won the Nationals again, but it wasn't happy like the previous year. It was as if victory, winning was an obligation, and that there would be consequences if we didn't. At that time, Kuroko-cchi didn't seem very close to me anymore, and he soon left the club. After that, all of us separated into different High schools. Kasamatsu-senpai and the other senpai were really nice to me, even though Kasamatsu-senpai liked to kick me. I was able to understand what a team really was over there, but it wasn't like before. Like when we were in Teiko. How we were a team in Kaijo reminded me of how we were in our second of year of Teiko, _and it hurt._ It hurt so much."

If Kise intended to tell them his journey on the road of basketball, then what would come next was...

"Then, I visited Kuroko-cchi in Seirin, and I met Kagami-cchi. I've always had mixed feelings about him. Kagami-cchi had become Kuroko-cchi's new light, and I felt like he replaced Aomine-cchi. Then, he and Kuroko-cchi had come after us all, and had defeated us in the Winter Cup. Part of me wanted to go back to the Teiko times, when we didn't know Kagami-cchi, and when no one could beat us at basketball. I know that it's really unfair to Kagami-cchi since it's not his fault, but I really hated him for penetrating into our circle. I knew that I missed everything that I had grown accustomed to seeing in Teiko. I missed Kuroko-cchi's lack of presence and mentorship, the arguments Aomine-cchi and I had and our one-on-ones, Akashi-cchi's motherly-ness and him always taking care of us, Midorima-cchi's lucky items and how he acted like a tsundere and Murasakibara-cchi's snacks. I missed it all. However, Kagami-cchi didn't push me around, and he was always really nice to me, and was very good at basketball, and I really, really liked him, too!"

Kagami looked to the ground, embarrassed.

"I really loved everyone! I loved Kuroko-cchi, Aomine-cchi, Akashi-cchi, Midorima-cchi, Murasakibara-cchi, I loved them all! I really missed them, and I wanted to play together with them again, _not against them_! I wanted to feel happy after winning with them all over again!" At this point, Kise was crying.

Akashi, seeing this, motherly personality and all, took a box of tissues and passed it to Kise. Kise took it gratefully.

In a bid to calm Kise down, Akashi said, "Kise, you haven't played against Murasakibara and me yet. I am fairly certain that we will be able to play with each other in the near future."

Kise looked up, his eyes red and puffy from crying.

"That's not the point, Akashi-cchi! I really wished that all of us could have joined the same high school and played with each other! I... I... I really just wanted us to be a team again!" Kise, breaking out into yet another round of sobs, grabbed what was nearest to him, namely Akashi, for a hug, and starting squeezing him hard. Akashi, despite being unable to breathe well, allowed Kise to hug him.

Suddenly, the hugging duo felt another pair of arms wrap around them.

Kise looked up.

"Kuroko-cchi..."

"Kise-kun, I'm sorry for not noticing this sooner. I'm sure that we will be able to play together next time."

The trio felt yet another pair of arms wrap around them.

"Murasakibara-kun?"

Murasakibara ignored Kuroko and stared straight at Akashi, his childish look giving way to stony seriousness.

"Aka-chin, I'm sorry for ever doubting you. I shouldn't have done that. In the end, your change in personality was my fault."

Akashi shook his head and smiled.

And another pair of well-toned arms enveloped them all.

"Midorima-cchi?"

"Shut up! I'm not doing this because I care about all of you or anything, but because it seems the most appropriate to do so now!"

And another pair of arms.

"Aomine-cchi!"

Aomine grimaced and looked away, probably wondering why he had joined the circle of huggers in the first place.

"Kagami-kun."

"No, I think that I'll just stay here and watch."

" **Kagami-kun.** "

Kuroko gave Kagami a hard look, which the latter found absolutely horrifying.

"Okay, okay!"

Kagami walked forward and completed the circle.

All of a sudden, a muffled voice came from the face pressed at Kise's shirt.

"Akashi-cchi? Oh no! You can't breathe? Everyone, help! Akashi-cchi's suffocating!"

"You're too noisy, Kise! Besides, how do you even register such things when you're drunk!?"

"I'm not drunk, Aomine-cchi!"

"Yes, you are!"

Kuroko peered out from under Murasakibara's arm.

Tomorrow would be a good day.

* * *

So, how was it? Satisfactory, I hope? I'm sorry I can't do much better now; it's 1:38 a.m. and I'm sleep-deprived. And absolutely exhausted. Do overlook any grammatical errors.

By the way, I'll probably make an omake. But that will be for tomorrow.

 **Reviews are love!**


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